Social
“I am reluctant to show my emotions to others”: Vanilla Chi reveals her true self through story-led illustrations
Personal pain and nostalgia fuel the New York-based illustrator s work. Here, she tells us more about her expressive practice.
Words
By the time Vanilla Chi had learnt to walk in the halls of her childhood house in Shenzhen, China, she was already drawing on the walls. Her parents have told her how she would use any medium accessible, whether that’s coloured pencil, pastel, sand, rock or flowers. Growing up, she recalls the visual stimuli that would go on to inform her illustrative practice to date. Cartoons, comics and magazines were all prosperous material providing inspiration for the young Vanilla, and she specifically remembers a fondness for anything cute or particularly girlish.